Porcelain Biscuit Clock Called "three Graces". Around 1890

Louis XVI Style terminal clock in bisque porcelain with a mythological subject of the "Three Graces" base on a sea green marble base set with a gilded bronze rod with a pearl pattern and a frieze of rais-de- heart. Circular white enameled dial with polychrome painted decoration called "A la Dauphine". Movement numbered: "3049". Parisian creation based on Louis XVI period models from the last third of the 19th century. Circa 1880-1890. With an original and particularly refined design, this elegant mantel clock made of bisque porcelain welcomes a finely modeled summit group. Represented entwined in a dancing attitude, three graceful female figures - Aglaé, Thalée and Euphrosine -, their hair surrounded by beaded tiaras, draped in an airy tunic in the Antique style, baring their chests and invigorating their caressing silhouette, move on a small mossy mound punctuated with a small bouquet of spring flowers. Restraint, fluidity, youthful freshness radiate from this harmonious sculptural composition lightly depicting the “Three Graces”. The latter takes place on a large oval shaped terminal punctuated with grooves. Set with threads of pearls, a thick molded bangle with crisscrossed ribbons, punctuated on its sides with hanging floral crowns, it houses the movement of the clock. Framed with garlands of myrtle leaves or studded with roses and flowers centered with tied ribbons, the white enamelled circular dial hemmed on its bezel with a fine pearl indicates the hours and minutes in Arabic numerals. It is embellished with a painted decoration called "La dauphine", which adds a delicate Louis XVI touch to this watch piece with its nicely implemented neoclassical vocabulary. Surrounded by a gilded bronze wand threaded with pearls and a frieze of rais-de-coeur, a sea green marble base profiled in ogee enhances this porcelain ensemble reinterpreting models during the second half of the 19th century highly prized by watchmakers and bronze workers of the reign of Louis XVI. Also, we can relate our watch piece by the structuring of its silhouette, its use of recurring shapes and motifs in the Louis XVI Style (fluted terminal, beads, ribbons, garlands of flowers, small flowers and bouquet) as well as by its theme charmeuse, modeled on the clock known as "Aux Trois Graces" developed in the years 1770-1780 for the Countess du Barry by master bronze-maker François Vion (1737-1790), based on the sculpted work (Paris, Musée du Louvre, Inv.0A 6525) by Etienne-Maurice Falconnet (1716-1791). In conjunction with this masterful watchmaking creation which in its century enjoyed great notoriety and was subsequently available in several versions (model in 1880 by Henri Dasson), a connection with the productions of the Manufacture de Sèvres, in particular with sculpture in biscuit with mythological or allegorical subjects shaped by Louis-Simon Boizot (1734-1804) in the last quarter of the 18th century is taking shape. Playing on references from the Louis XVI period, combining with measured inventiveness the balance, the grace of the neoclassical style of yesteryear and the refinement of the materials, the designer of our clock gives us a quality piece. The theme - The Three Graces - invites the imagination of a time when, under the golden reign of Louis XVI, the libertine sweetness of an art of living flourished in French decorative arts. Dated 1770, isn't a project for a clock "Aux Trois Graces" designed by F.Vion (preserved in Paris, Bibliothéque Doucet) subtitled: "The Time Passing Between Love and the Graces"? . Captivated by the intimate Louis XVI aesthetic, Parisian society at the end of the 19th century liked to equip its interiors with so-called “themed” watch pieces (allegorical, sentimental, etc.) similar to the one we are offering. Materials: porcelain biscuit; bronze, sea green marble; enamel and polychrome painted decoration; gold metal and glass. Dimensions: H.: 40cm -L.: 26 cm;-Dr.: 16 cm.